In the area of marketing, displays and designs have been widely used on many products to increase the appeal of the products and thereby make the products more attractive to potential purchasers. For example, fanciful displays and designs have been used on trading cards, greeting cards, packaging materials, labels, decals, and the like to enhance the appeal of these products.
Just one of the many types of displays which are commonly used are displays which have a transparent plastic substrate on which a design is formed. As can be readily appreciated, a large number of techniques exist for forming the desired design on a plastic substrate. Of particular importance to the present invention is the technique known as process printing, of which lithographic process printing and silk screen printing are well-known species.
In its most basic sense, process printing involves forming an image on a substrate by depositing a large number of very small, closely spaced colored dots onto the substrate. Each of the dots has one of the four primary colors, red, blue, yellow, or black. The desired image is formed on the substrate by particularly depositing the variously colored dots onto the substrate in a predetermined pattern, in a predetermined color combination. The pattern or combination in which the dots are deposited forms the desired image and also establishes the colors of the image.
Typically, when an image is to be formed on a plastic substrate for use as a card, label, packaging, and the like, the dots are translucent ink and are process printed onto the substrate. The image thus formed has a two-dimensional, flat appearance. It has been recognized that the effect of process printed displays can be enhanced by making portions of the display appear to be metallic and shiny, thereby giving the display a three-dimensional appearance. Displays of this type are disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,106,126, issued to the present applicants. It has also been recognized that the effect of process printed displays can be enhanced by depositing a thick layer of ink on the substrate, to give the image an embossed or etched appearance. Displays of this type are disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,933,218, issued to one of the present applicants. These patents are incorporated herein by reference.
The present invention recognizes that the effect of process printed displays can be enhanced by the deposition of a pattern of white ink dots over the pattern of colored ink dots, in varying densities, to highlight those areas and give the visual impression of depth to the image. An area of the image which receives a highlight pattern of a lesser density has the appearance of being relatively farther removed from the viewer. An area which receives a highlight pattern of a greater density has the appearance of being relatively closer to the viewer. The effect created by a display incorporating the present invention can be even further enhanced by outlining portions of the image with a thick layer of ink, or by placing a reflective layer over the image, as disclosed in the above cited patents.
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a display which has a plastic substrate and a highlighted image process printed thereon. It is a further object of the present invention to provide a display which has a highlighted process printed image with portions of the image having a metallic, shiny appearance. Another object of the present invention is to provide a display which has diverse applications and which is cost effective to manufacture.